<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Reducing travel speed below the highway speed limit leads to savings in fuel consumption and CO<sub>2</sub> emissions. However, car drivers may be reluctant to drive more slowly either because they do not want to lose time or for other reasons we refer to as ‘the disutility of driving at lower speeds’. In this paper, we use a survey experiment to isolate the disutility of driving at lower speeds by comparing drivers’ willingness to accept compensation for a fixed increase in travel time caused either by taking a longer route or by travelling at below-limit speeds. We show that Czech drivers require higher compensation for travelling at lower speeds than they require for the same travel time increment caused by a longer distance. This result represents the first piece of evidence showing that the disutility of driving at below-limit speeds on a highway is substantial and economically relevant.</p>
</abstract>

Reducing travel speed below the highway speed limit leads to savings in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. However, car drivers may be reluctant to drive more slowly either because they do not want to lose time or for other reasons we refer to as ‘the disutility of driving at lower speeds’. In this paper, we use a survey experiment to isolate the disutility of driving at lower speeds by comparing drivers’ willingness to accept compensation for a fixed increase in travel time caused either by taking a longer route or by travelling at below-limit speeds. We show that Czech drivers require higher compensation for travelling at lower speeds than they require for the same travel time increment caused by a longer distance. This result represents the first piece of evidence showing that the disutility of driving at below-limit speeds on a highway is substantial and economically relevant.

The disutility of driving below the speed limit on highways

Review of Economic Perspectives

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"The disutility of driving below the speed limit on highways"}

Reducing travel speed below the highway speed limit leads to savings in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. However, car drivers may be reluctant to drive more...

The disutility of driving below the speed limit on highways

Published Online: Dec 24, 2022

Page range: 267 - 277

Received: Mar 22, 2022

Accepted: Nov 21, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/revecp-2022-0012

Keywords
CO emissions, highway speed, voluntary climate action, survey experiment

© 2022 Nikol Filipi et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The disutility of driving below the speed limit on highways

Published Online: Dec 24, 2022

Page range: 267 - 277

Received: Mar 22, 2022

Accepted: Nov 21, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/revecp-2022-0012

KeywordsCO emissions, highway speed, voluntary climate action, survey experiment

© 2022 Nikol Filipi et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
CO emissions, highway speed, voluntary climate action, survey experiment